Judicial Nominees Speak Volumes About Principles
The Following Piece Is Exclusive to Fox & Hounds Daily
The recent retirement announcement from California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George reminds us that the governor has very important appointment powers.
A governor’s judicial nominees speak volumes about their guiding principles. Moreover, these appointees – and their decisions – live long after the governor who appointed them has left office.
Californians expect their governor to take these appointments seriously, and I want people to know what I would expect of those whom I would appoint to the bench.
Report Co-Author Discusses State of School Funding
The Davenport Institute at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy recently released a report analyzing K-12 public school expenditures in California. Fox and Hounds Daily interviewed the co-author, Dr. Steven Frates, who is Director of Research at the Davenport Institute. You can find the full report here.
F&H: Your report reveals that total statewide expenditures for K-12 education increased more rapidly than inflation from FY 2003-04 through FY 2008-09.
Frates: Yes, that is correct.
F&H: We’ve heard a lot in the press over the last few years about cuts in education financing, but your report indicates otherwise. What are the facts?
Marching With Germans
I’ve spent the past two days in Northern California playing host to a group of two dozen foreign scholars and practitioners. They are early arrivals to a free, public event that starts Friday night in San Francisco, the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. (Full disclosure: I’m co-president of the event with a Swiss-Swede journalist named Bruno. Long story).
Listening to the Germans in the group is a trip. Initiative and referendum – previously discredited because of the Nazis’ use of the plebiscite – have made a comeback in Germany since the end of the Cold War. Now, all 16 German states have popular initiative and referendum.
There is even talk of establishing the process on the federal level.
8 Reasons to Leverage California’s Venture Capital With a Competitive Environment
California receives a majority of U.S. venture capital (VC). Always
has, hopefully always will. Our state produces brilliant creative
minds and ideas because of its University power and its sheer size of
35 million people. This unique outcome alone does not however equate,
by default, to the meaningful job growth necessary for our many workers
whom are unemployed and under-employed (a term becoming all too common
for the folks forced to take any job they can find).
We must leverage our built-in VC advantage to ensure that emerging
green and other products are actually produced here. California’s
wealth will be multiplied once VC cash gets beyond the investment board
room offices and into the bank accounts of our very own hard working,
middle class families.
Recently the LA Times wrote a piece about VC growth in California and the notion
that it does, and will, open the floodgates to new green jobs. Often
the state’s VC numbers are used to support bold California-only
mandates and policies, without regard for the state’s competitive
disadvantage. Now the impressive amount of VC investment is being used to justify opposition to Proposition 23 — the
ballot initiative to suspend AB 32 until our economy is in better shape
and unemployment numbers are reduced.
Q&A With San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed: Confident The Oakland A’s Will Move To San Jose
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is steering the Oakland A’s to his city.
Frustrated
after waiting 16 months for MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s committee to
explore potential destinations for the Oakland ballclub, Reed decided
to make a dramatic move. He issued a proposal to put the privately
financed ballpark measure on the November ballot, with or without
approval from MLB.
Reed’s
hopes were that it might nudge MLB if they saw that a ballpark was
already approved, and Reed thought it would save the city money putting
the issue to voters in November. The nudge worked – at least providing
movement from MLB.